Never Knew

The Blade

Rikimaru's point of view

~Memories~

As I woke, I had not even realized I was somewhere different but I did not care. I did not know how long I was unconscious for.

I got up and tried to remember what happened before it went black, as I tried to remember, everything felt like a dream.

It all felt unreal.

As my head cleared, I felt dead inside, as if someone had taken most of my life away. I felt heavy but empty like something pushing me down but there was nothing inside me. I felt like a body without a soul, meaningless.

I noticed that I was somewhere different, when a familiar figure came towards me. I did not even feel fear when he came, I did not even know if I was going to die, but I did not care. As he got closer there were flashes of the incident with every step he took. The closer he got, I felt more sorrow in my heart.

"There is no need to feel pain young one. Life is full of losses, but these losses are what make a person. They can destroy you from the inside out, or can make you stronger than before." The old man said.

He placed food in front of me, but I did not feel hungry. I just wanted to be alone.

"You are very weak young one, if you do not eat I do not know if you will survive." I just looked at the down at the floor.

Then the man left.

I did not eat, I knew I was weak and very small. I did not mind it, I had always been skinny and thought of as weak. There was just something different about the way this man said it.

"Are you going to eat that?" A voice from the shadows said.

I did not respond.

"Master Shiunsai is right, you are very weak." The boy came out of the shadows he appeared no older than I was. "Listen kid, if you want to survive out here, you must not let the past ruin your future" He said as he got right in front of me. "My name is Tatsukichi, but they call me Tasumaru." He said as he ate some of the food.

I finally looked up to see him, he seemed no more than maybe two years older than I was. He was taller than I was, and seemed very confident and looked fit for a boy my age, or at least compared to me.

"What's your name?" He asked me as he ate more food. I knew if I did not say anything, he would keep asking questions and not leave. He just stared at me, I guess he expected me to do something.

I just wanted to be left alone.

"My... n-name is..." I did not know, every time I tried to think about it, the images of my mother and father played over and over. I felt so much grief that I could not even move.

"Well don't worry about it anyways, if you last long enough here Master might give you a name like he did to me." He said as he handed me food. I looked down at the food and just before I could look back up to him, he was gone.

I sat there trying to process everything that has happened and trying to remember as much about myslef as I could, my name, family or how any of this happened. I could only remember my mother and father, gone forever.

"Weak... survive... Master... name?" played the four words in my head.